Central Islip, N.Y.: Former Congressman George Santos leaves court after being sentenced to 87 months in prison at the Alfonse D’Amato Federal Court House in Central Islip, New York, on April 25, 2025. (Photo by J. Conrad Williams Jr./Newsday RM via Getty Images)
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The recent commutation of disgraced former Congressman George Santos provides a good opportunity to look at the dramatic ways President Donald Trump’s policy for pardons and clemency differs from past norms.
George Santos was convicted last April of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. He was sentenced to serve 7 years and 3 months in prison and pay$374,000 in restitution as well as $205,000 in fines. However, after serving less than 3 months in prison, his sentence was commuted by President Trump and he was released from prison. Strictly speaking, a commutation differs from a pardon in that a pardon is an official act of forgiveness. A commutation does not forgive the crime but is more an expression of mercy. A key element, however, of Santos’ commutation is that he is freed of all financial penalties.
And therein lies the rub.
Donald Trump has pardoned or commuted sentences for people and companies who owed more than $100 million in fines that would have been paid to the federal government and $1.3 billion in restitution that would have been paid to the victims of the white collar crimes of the pardoned and commuted criminals.
Among the dubious pardons of Trump was that of Trevor Milton, the founder of Nikola Corp. who had been convicted of securities fraud and wire fraud related to misleading Nikola investors about the capabilities of the company’s developing technology. He had been sentenced to serve four years in prison, pay fines of $1 million and pay $600 million in restitution to his defrauded shareholders. As a result of his pardon, Milton totally avoided his prison sentence, his conviction was eliminated and he was freed of all financial penalties. Following the pardon the SEC dropped its civil enforcement action against him and the victims of his fraud receive nothing. Meanwhile as a result of his crimes Nikola Corp filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February of 2025. Further, giving the appearance of impropriety was the $1.8 million dollar donation made by Milton and his wife to Trump’s 2024 campaign.
Traditionally, the Office of the Pardon Attorney (OPA), which is a part of the Department of Justice, oversees the process of granting pardons and commutations. Its rules require applicants for pardons to wait five years after serving their sentence before applying for a pardon. Once the application is filed the OPA does an extensive review of the case including criminal history, employment and education records and community service. The OPA also solicits victim impact statements and letters of support of the application.
In the case of Milton the entire process was avoided and Milton’s request for a pardon was made directly to Trump through channels outside of the Department of Justice. It should be noted that while under the circumstances this appears to be wildly unethical, it is legal in that the Constitution in Article II Section 2 gives the president the authority to grant clemency without having to go through any particular legal process.
And while other presidents have bypassed the OPA such as Bill Clinton’s pardon of financier Marc Rich in 2001 and Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter Biden, these were rare exceptions. During Trump’s first term in office only 11% of his clemency grants were recommended by the OPA which represents a historic low. Trump has gone so far to subvert the established process for clemency as to appoint Alice Marie Johnson to the newly created position of “Pardon Czar” with the express purpose of recommending clemency outside of the traditional DOJ channels. Johnson’s qualifications to serve in this role are certainly questionable, lacking any legal training or government service. Her primary experience with the issues of clemency come from her own commutation and then later pardon of a life sentence for cocaine trafficking by Trump in 2018 and 2020 respectively. And while she has been an active advocate for criminal justice reform, her qualifications for the job of Pardon Czar would appear to be quite lacking.
Similarly, Paul Walczak, a nursing home executive who was convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to 18 months in prison and order to pay $4.4 million in restitution received a full pardon from Trump three weeks after his mother, Elizabeth Fago had attended a $1 million per person fundraiser for Trump at Mar-a-Lago with the pardon application again not being reviewed by the OPA.
All in all, Trump has issued more than 1,600 pardons largely without being evaluated through the OPA. These pardons have included mass pardons of January 6th rioters with a number of them going on to be charged or convicted of committing other crimes including Christopher Moynihan who is charged with threatening to assassinate House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Edward Kelley who was convicted of plotting to murder the FBI agents who initially investigated his participation in the January 6th riot.
Instead of an orderly, ethical process for evaluating clemency applications, the standards for the present administration appear to be granting clemency to political donors and supporters and celebrities.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveweisman/2025/10/23/a-deeper-look-at-president-trumps-pardons/
